Post by Kaz ~;~ on Jul 23, 2010 15:27:03 GMT -5
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History::
Bozo was created as a character in 1946 by Alan W. Livingston, who produced a children's storytelling record-album and illustrative read-along book set which Livingston called a "Record Reader," the first of its kind, titled Bozo at the Circus for Capitol Records. Pinto Colvig portrayed the character on this and subsequent Bozo read-along records. The albums were extremely popular and the character became a mascot for the record company and was later nicknamed "Bozo the Capitol Clown." Many non-Bozo Capitol children's records had a "Bozo Approved" label on the jacket.
In 1949, Capitol and Livingston began setting up royalty arrangements with manufacturers and television stations for use of the Bozo character. KTTV-TV in Los Angeles began broadcasting the first show, Bozo's Circus, featuring Colvig as Bozo with his blue-and-red costume, oversized red hair and classic "whiteface" clown makeup on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
In 1956, Larry Harmon, one of several actors hired by Livingston and Capitol Records to portray Bozo at promotional appearances, formed a business partnership and bought the licensing rights (excluding the record-readers) to the character when Livingston briefly left Capitol in 1956. Harmon had the vision and drive to take advantage of the growing television industry and make a better future for Bozo. He renamed the character "Bozo, The World’s Most Famous Clown" and modified the voice, laugh and costume. He then worked with a wig stylist to get the wing-tipped bright orange style and look of the hair that had previously appeared in Capitol's Bozo comic books. He started his own animation studio and distributed (through Jayark Films Corporation) a series of cartoons (with Harmon as the voice of Bozo) to television stations, along with the rights for each to hire its own live Bozo host, beginning with KTLA-TV in Los Angeles on January 5, 1959 and starring Vance Colvig, Jr., son of the original "Bozo the Clown," Pinto Colvig.
Unlike many other shows on television, "Bozo the Clown" was mostly a franchise as opposed to being syndicated, meaning that local TV stations could put on their own local productions of the show complete with their own Bozo. Another show that had previously used this model successfully was Romper Room. Since each market used a different portrayer for the character, the voice and look of each market's Bozo also differed slightly. One example is the voice and laugh of WGN-TV Chicago's Bob Bell, who also wore a red costume throughout the first decade of his portrayal.
The wigs for Bozo were originally manufactured through the famous Hollywood firm, Emil Corsillo Inc. This long time Hollywood company designed and manufactured toupees and wigs for the entertainment industry. Bozo's headpiece was made from yak hair, which was adhered to a canvas base with a starched burlap interior foundation. The hair was first styled, formed, then sprayed with a heavy coat of lacquer to keep its form. From time to time, the headpiece needed freshening and was sent to the Hollywood factory for a quick refurbishing. The canvas top would slide over the actor's forehead. With the exception of the Bozo wigs for WGN-TV Chicago, the eyebrows were permanently painted on the headpiece.
In 1965, Harmon bought out his business partners and became the sole owner of the licensing rights. Thinking that one national show would be more profitable for his company, Harmon produced 130 of his own half-hour shows from 1965 to 1967 titled Bozo's Big Top with WHDH-TV (now WCVB-TV) Boston's Bozo, Frank Avruch, for syndication in 1966. Avruch's portrayal and look resembled Harmon's more so than most of the other portrayers at the time. The show's distribution included New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Boston at one point, though most television stations still preferred to continue producing their own versions, with the most popular being Bob Bell and WGN-TV Chicago's Bozo's Circus which went national via cable and satellite in 1978. Bell retired in 1984 and was replaced by Joey D'Auria. The WGN version successfully survived competition from syndicated and network children's programs for many years until 1994 when WGN management decided to get out of the weekday children's television business and buried The Bozo Show in an early Sunday timeslot as The Bozo Super Sunday Show. It suffered another blow in 1997 when its format became educational following a Federal Communications Commission mandate requiring broadcast television stations to air a minimum three hours of educational children's programs per week. In 2001, station management controversially ended production citing increased competition from newer children's cable channels. In 2005, WGN's Bozo returned to the national television airwaves in a two-hour retrospective titled Bozo, Gar & Ray: WGN TV Classics. The primetime premiere was #1 in the Chicago market and continues to be nationally rebroadcast annually during the holiday season. In 2003, Harmon released six of his Bozo's Big Top programs with Avruch on DVD and a box set of 30 episodes in 2007 retitled "Larry Harmon's Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown Vol.1". The WGN Bozo shows have not been released commercially in any video format.
On July 3, 2008, Larry Harmon died of congestive heart failure at the age of 83. On March 13, 2009, Alan Livingston died of age-related causes at 91.
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Following is a partial list of Bozo television portrayers since the original (Pinto Colvig):
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U.S. and Internationally Syndicated TV Bozo Frank Avruch (1966–1970s) Produced at WHDH-TV (now WCVB) 1965-1967 in Boston. TV markets that were not producing their own local version between the years 1966-1970 featured this program. It is currently available in DVD format entitled "Bozo The World's Most Famous Clown" Volumes 1 & 2.
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U.S. and International Cable and Satellite TV Bozos
Bob Bell (1978–1984) at Superstation WGN Chicago Joey D'Auria (1984–2001) at Superstation WGN Chicago (WGN's signal-reach throughout North America included the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean among others.)
Local TV Bozos::
Birmingham, Alabama
Bart Darby (1961–1962) at WBRC-TV
Ward McIntyre (1962–1968) at WBRC-TV
Little Rock, Arkansas
Gary Weir (1966–early 1970s) at KATV-TV; also (late 1980s) at KARK-TV; also at KAIT-TV in
Jonesboro, Arkansas (1970s–1980s); also at KLRT-TV in Little Rock in the late 1980s.
Los Angeles, California
Vance Colvig, Jr. (1959–1964) at KTLA-TV (son of the original Bozo the Clown)
Washington, D.C.
Willard Scott (1959–1962) at WRC-TV
Dick Dyszel (1972–1979) at WDCA-TV
Jacksonville, Florida
Andrew Amyx (1961–1966) at WFGA-TV
Miami, Florida
Alan Rock (1968–1970) at WAJA-TV
Orlando, Florida
Alan Rock (1971–1974) at WFTV-TV
Chicago, Illinois
Bob Bell (1960–1984) at WGN-TV
Joey D'Auria (1984–2001) at WGN-TV
Moline, Illinois
Keith Andrews (1967) at WQAD-TV
Shreveport, Louisiana at KTBS-TV
Joe Miot (1967–1968)
Terry MacDonald (now Mac McDonald) (1968)
Drew Hunter (1969–1970)
Bangor, Maine
Mike Dolley (1962–1967) at WABI-TV
Baltimore, Maryland
Stu Kerr (1960s) at WMAR-TV
Boston, Massachusetts
Frank Avruch (1959–1970) at WHDH-TV (now WCVB-TV)
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Bennett B. Schneider IV (1969–1971) at WTEV-TV (now WLNE-TV)
Worcester, Massachusetts
Tom Matzell (1970–1974) at WSMW-TV
Detroit, Michigan (see also Windsor, Ontario)
Bob McNea (1959–1967) at WWJ-TV
Jerry Booth (1967) at CKLW-TV
Art Cervi (1967–1979) at WJBK-TV
Andrew F. Smith (1991–1997) at WADL (TV)
Flint, Michigan
Frank Cady (1967–1979) at WJRT-TV
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Bill Merchant (August 1966-1968) at WZZM-TV
Dick Richards (1968–1999) at WZZM-TV
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota
Roger Erickson (c. 1959-63) at WCCO-TV
New York City, New York
Bill Britten (1959–1964) at WPIX-TV
Gordon Ramsey (1969–1970) at WWOR-TV
Charlotte, North Carolina
Jim Patterson (1962–1966) at WBTV-TV
Dayton/Springfield, Ohio
David Eaton (early 1970s) at WSWO-TV
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Doug Wing (1969) (WTAF-TV)
Craig Michael Mann (1970) (WTAF-TV)
Deon Aumier (1989–1990) at WGBS-TV
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Deeny Kaplan at WPGH-TV
Providence, Rhode Island
Jeremy Baker at WNAC-TV
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Pat Tobin (1960–1962) at KSOO-TV
Nashville, Tennessee
Tom Tichenor (1959) at WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV)
Dick Brackett (late 1959-1966) at WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV) (Tom Tichenor accepted an off-Broadway show opportunity and Dick Brackett took his place.)
Joe Holcum (mid 1960s) at WSIX-TV (now WKRN-TV)
Jim Kent (late 1960 to early 1970s) at WSIX-TV (now WKRN-TV)
Memphis, Tennessee
Jim Chapin (1955) at WHBQ-TV
Austin, Texas
Mel Pennington (1967) at KHFI-TV
El Paso, Texas
Howell Eurich (1968–1972) at KROD-TV
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Canadian TV Bozos
Windsor, Ontario (see also Detroit, Michigan)
Jerry Booth (1967) CKLW-TV
Art Cervi (1967–1975) at CKLW-TV
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Mexican TV Bozos::
Mexico City
Jose Manuel Vargas (1960s–1990s) at XEW-TV
Monterrey
Jose Marroquin (1961–1963) at XHX-TV
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Bozo on Boston TV::
The local WHDH-TV Boston production of Bozo's Circus with Frank Avruch aired from 1959 until 1970, and 130 episodes taped between 1965 and 1967 were produced and syndicated by Larry Harmon Pictures Corporation to local U.S. television markets that did not produce their own Bozo shows. The half-hour syndicated shows were retitled Bozo The Clown (on episodes with a 1965 date) and Bozo's Big Top (on episodes with a 1966 date). Caroll Spinney appeared as "Mr. Lion" and "Kookie The Boxing Kangaroo," billed in the credits as Ed Spinney. He later went on to portray "Big Bird" and "Oscar the Grouch" on PBS's Sesame Street. Licensor Larry Harmon supervised the taping of these episodes, with Harmon-approved characters added, some based on characters in Harmon's classic animated Bozo cartoon shorts. The series continued to run in syndication for many years, and was rerun locally in the late 1970s and early 1980s on WLVI-TV. In 2003, Harmon released six of these shows on DVD and, in 2007, 30 of them in a DVD box set entitled Larry Harmon's Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown, Collection 1. A second box set was released later that year, also containing 30 of the half-hours; the second box set (Collection 2) includes the six episodes previously released on the two earlier single DVD releases, and also repeats one show from Collection 1, for a grand total of 59 episodes released on DVD altogether. Although the shows included on the two single-disc DVDs had contemporary computer-animated characters superimposed over some scenes, the 59 episodes included in Collections 1 & 2 are presented in their original form.
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Bozo on Chicago TV
Main article: The Bozo Show
The Chicago Bozo franchise was the most popular and successful locally-produced children's program in the history of television. It also became the most widely known Bozo show as WGN-TV became a national cable television Superstation. WGN-TV Chicago's "Bozo" show debuted on June 20, 1960 starring Bob Bell on a live half-hour program weekdays at noon, performing comedy sketches and introducing cartoons. The series was placed on hiatus in January 1961 to facilitate WGN's move from Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago to 2501 West Bradley Place on the city’s northwest side. WGN-TV's "Bozo's Circus" debuted on September 11, 1961. The live hour-long show aired weekdays at noon and featured comedy sketches, circus acts, cartoons, games and prizes before a 200+ member studio audience. The program began airing nationally via cable and satellite in 1978, and studio audience reservations surpassed a 10-year wait. In 1980, the series moved to weekday mornings as "The Bozo Show" and aired on tape delay. In 1994, it moved to Sunday mornings as "The Bozo Super Sunday Show" and became "education and information" in 1997 following a Federal Communications Commission mandate requiring broadcast television stations to air a minimum three hours per week of "educational and informational" children’s programs. Cast members throughout the program's 40-year run included Bob Bell as Bozo (1960–1984), Ned Locke as Ringmaster Ned (1961–1976), Don Sandburg as Sandy the Tramp (1961–1969), Ray Rayner as Oliver O. Oliver (1961–1971), Roy Brown as Cooky the Cook (1968–1994), Marshall Brodien as Wizzo the Wizard (1968–1994), Frazier Thomas (1976–1985), Joey D'Auria as Bozo (1984–2001), Andy Mitran as Professor Andy (1987–2001) and Robin Eurich as Rusty the Handyman (1994–2001). The final Bozo show, a primetime special titled "Bozo: 40 Years of Fun!” was taped on June 12, 2001 and aired on July 14, 2001. Reruns of "The Bozo Super Sunday Show" aired until August 26, 2001. Bozo returned to the airwaves on December 24, 2005 in a two-hour retrospective titled “Bozo, Gar & Ray: WGN TV Classics.” The primetime premiere was #1 in the Chicago market and continues to be nationally rebroadcast annually during the holiday season. Bozo also continues to appear on the WGN-TV float in Chicago’s biggest parades.
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Bozo on TV around the world
Bozo TV shows were also produced in other countries including: Mexico, Thailand, Australia, Greece and Brazil. Larry Harmon claimed that more than 200 actors have portrayed the clown.
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"Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown" animated cartoon series
Bozo: The World's Most Famous Clown
Voices of Larry Harmon
Paul Frees
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Theme music composer Gordon Zahler
Alec Compinsky
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Broadcast::
Original run 1958 – 1962
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The American animated television series produced by Larry Harmon Pictures Corporation began syndication in 1958. Voice cast was Larry Harmon as Bozo with Paul Frees among others.
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(Series Cast)
Bob Bell ... Bozo
Roy Brown ... Cooky the Cook
Frazier Thomas ... Circus Manager
Marshall Brodien ... Wizzo the Wizard
Henry Maar ... Himself - "The Sultan of Balloons"
Phil Donahue ... Himself
Leah Stanko Mangum ... Dancer
Ned Locke ... Ringmaster Ned
Ray Rayner ... Oliver O. Oliver
Don Sandburg ... Sandy the Tramp
Robert Trendler ... Mr. Bob bandleader
Dick Lubbers ... Monty Melvin
Pat Tobin ... Elrod T. Potter
John Thompson ... Clod Hopper
